5.  The applicant was born in 1960 and lives in Vantaa.
6.  In 1998 the applicant’s Finnish company was subjected to a tax inspection but the tax authorities found no irregularities.
7.  In 2004 and 2005 the applicant was again subjected to a tax inspection of his foreign companies. The preliminary tax inspection report was issued on 5 December 2005. The tax inspection was concluded with a final report on 27 February 2006.
8.  On 22 December 2005 the tax authorities imposed on the applicant additional taxes as well as tax surcharges (veronkorotus, skatteförhöjning) for the tax year 1999 for having received disguised dividends from the foreign companies. The tax surcharges amounted to 6,727 euros (EUR).
9.  By letter dated 19 February 2006 the applicant sought rectification from the local Tax Rectification Committee (verotuksen oikaisulautakunta, prövningsnämnden i beskattningsärenden), requesting it to quash the decision of 22 December 2005 concerning the tax year 1999.
10.  On 26 June 2006 the tax authorities imposed on the applicant additional taxes and tax surcharges for the tax years 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2004 for having received disguised dividends from the foreign companies. The amount of tax surcharges varied between EUR 824 and EUR 5,000.
11.  By letter dated 25 August 2006 the applicant sought rectification from the local Tax Rectification Committee, requesting it to quash the decisions of 26 June 2006 concerning the tax years 2000 and 2002 to 2004.
12.  On 4 October 2006 the Tax Rectification Committee rejected the applicant’s applications concerning the tax imposed for the tax years 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2004.
13.  By letter dated 31 December 2009 the applicant appealed against the rectification decisions of 4 October 2006 to the Helsinki Administrative Court (hallinto-oikeus, förvaltningsdomstolen), requesting that the taxation decisions be quashed and the tax surcharges withdrawn. He also requested that an oral hearing be held.
14.  On 8 April 2011 the Helsinki Administrative Court rejected the applicant’s appeals as well as the request for an oral hearing. The court found that it was not necessary to hold an oral hearing as the same witnesses had already been heard by the District Court and the Appeal Court in the same matter. The court examined the appeal concerning the tax years 1999, 2000 and 2002 as a material appeal (perustevalitus, grundbesvär) and the rest as ordinary appeals.
15.  By letter dated 7 June 2011 the applicant appealed against the Administrative Court decision to the Supreme Administrative Court (korkein hallinto-oikeus, högsta förvaltningsdomstolen), reiterating the grounds of appeal already presented before the Administrative Court. Moreover, he pointed out that the charges had already been dismissed by the Appeal Court for the tax years 1999 to 2000 without examining the merits and that this fact should prevent the further examination of these matters by the administrative courts.
16.  On 13 September 2012 the Supreme Administrative Court refused the applicant leave to appeal.
17.  By letter dated 15 April 2005 the tax authorities asked the police to investigate whether the applicant had committed aggravated tax fraud between 1999 and 2005 concerning the tax years 1998 to 2004.
18.  On 17 November 2008 the public prosecutor brought charges against the applicant, inter alia, for aggravated tax fraud (törkeä veropetos, grovt skattebedrägeri) concerning the tax years 1999 to 2000 and 2002 to 2004. According to the charges, the applicant was accused of aggravated tax fraud as he had failed to declare in his personal taxation income received from the foreign companies and, consequently, the tax imposed on him had been too low. The tax authorities joined the charges and presented a compensation claim totalling EUR 48,870 which was the amount of avoided taxes still unpaid.
19.  On 12 June 2009 the Vantaa District Court (käräjäoikeus, tingsrätten) convicted the applicant of aggravated tax fraud, and imposed a suspended prison sentence of 1 year and 6 months. He was ordered to pay the tax authorities the EUR 48,870 claimed, plus interest, in compensation.
20.  By letter dated 14 August 2009 the applicant appealed to the Helsinki Appeal Court (hovioikeus, hovrätten), requesting that the District Court judgment be quashed and the charges dismissed. He also requested that an oral hearing be held.
21.  On 21 December 2010 the Helsinki Appeal Court, after having held an oral hearing, dismissed the charges concerning the tax years 1999 to 2000 without examining the merits but otherwise upheld the District Court’s judgment. The sentence imposed was reduced to a 10-month suspended sentence. The compensation to be paid to the tax authorities was reduced to EUR 10,718 plus interest. The court raised ex officio the question of ne bis in idem. It found that the charge of aggravated tax fraud and the tax surcharges imposed clearly concerned the same failure to declare income. As the time-limit for applying for rectification within the taxation proceedings in respect of the tax years 1999 and 2000 had already run out before the charges were brought, the taxation had become final and these years could no longer be the subject of criminal proceedings. Therefore the charges had to be dismissed without examining the merits. However, as the charges had been brought before the time-limit ran out in respect of the tax years 2002 to 2004, there was no impediment to examining the charges in respect of these tax years.
22.  By letter dated 20 February 2011 the applicant appealed to the Supreme Court (korkein oikeus, högsta domstolen), reiterating the grounds of appeal already presented before the Appeal Court. Moreover, he noted that the Appeal Court’s interpretation of the finality of the taxation decisions could not be tied to the time-limit for lodging an application for rectification because in the present case the Tax Rectification Committee had already rejected such applications in 2006.
23.  On 12 September 2011 the Supreme Court granted the applicant leave to appeal as far as the charges concerned the tax years 2002 to 2004.
24.  On 31 May 2012 the Supreme Court upheld the Appeal Court judgment. It found that the tax rectification decisions could not have become final before the time-limit for lodging an application for rectification had run out because the same time-limit also applied for lodging a further appeal to the administrative courts. As, at the time of bringing charges, the applicant still had a right to appeal to the administrative courts, which he had in fact exercised after the charges had been brought, the taxation decisions for the tax years 2002 to 2004 had not yet become final.